Shelving systems are commonly used for the efficient display or storage of consumer goods and other items. In their most basic form, shelving systems use fixed (non-adjustable) shelves. Such systems necessarily are designed with sufficient spacing between shelves to accommodate the largest or tallest object expected to be stored therein. A considerable storage volume can be wasted if such a system is used to store items smaller than those considered in establishing the design. Such wasted storage volume could be reduced by reducing the spacing between shelves, but only at the expense of no longer providing capacity to store larger items.
Manually adjustable shelving systems can decrease these inefficiencies by allowing the user to set shelf spacing as necessary for a particular application and to adjust the shelf spacing as needs change. However, manually adjustable systems typically require that items borne on a shelf be removed from the shelf before adjustments can be made. Power operated shelving systems can overcome this problem by allowing the user to adjust shelf spacing on demand, without first clearing a shelf of its contents. However, power operated shelving systems using conventional mechanical switch control interfaces also have limitations. For instance, mechanical switches typically include internal moving parts which are at least somewhat exposed to the environment. As such, contaminants, such as dirt or moisture, can enter the switch mechanism and increase the risk of malfunction or the severity of mechanical wear. Also, the discontinuities and crevices associated with mechanical switches can make such switches and the areas around them difficult to clean.
Further, mechanical switches typically have large profiles, often making it difficult to integrate them into a shelving system where space is limited. For example, mechanical switches typically require a dedicated switch panel which might not easily be integrated into a shelving unit and might even need to be mounted remotely from the shelving unit. Moreover, because mechanical switches generally can control only a single function, a system wherein many functions need to be controlled requires the use of a like number of such switches. Thus, the use of mechanical switches is disadvantageous in shelving systems wherein space conservation is an important consideration.
Conventional shelving systems include numerous other disadvantages. For example, the depth of the shelves in conventional refrigerators and the disparate sizes of products stored thereon can make it cumbersome to take inventory of items in a refrigerator. This task is further complicated by the fact that conventional refrigerators typically use opaque doors, making it impossible to see the contents of the refrigerator without opening the door. As such, taking inventory requires opening the door, a practice that is not only inconvenient, but energy inefficient as well.
Another shortcoming involves illumination of shelving used in, for example, refrigerators. Conventional refrigerators typically include a convenience light somewhere in the interior cavity. Light can propagate from the light fixture, through the wire or glass shelves inside the compartment, to other shelves above or below. Light, however cannot propagate through opaque items placed on such shelves. As such, attempts to illuminate a refrigerator compartment using a single convenience light often achieve very limited success. One proposal to overcome this problem involves the installation of a convenience light under each such shelf for illuminating the space below. Although this solution helps put light where it is needed, a conventional light fixture mounted underneath a refrigerator shelf in a conventional manner is highly susceptible to failure due to infiltration by spilled liquids.